A Kamloops man described by doctors as “floridly psychotic” in 2008 is no longer on parole — but that doesn’t mean Robert Semchuk is a free man.
In a decision released on Tuesday by the Parole Board of Canada, the 51-year-old was ordered to live under seven strict conditions in a halfway house for the foreseeable future.
The document also describes Semchuk’s “risk to re-offend generally and violently as high.”
In 2009, the Crown applied to have Semchuk labelled a dangerous offender — a tag that would have seen him jailed indefinitely.
Instead, a B.C. Supreme Court judge named Semchuk a long-term offender and sentenced him to nine years in a federal prison.
That sentence was shortened to six years after Semchuk was given credit for time served before trial.
In 2006, Semchuk attacked and stabbed a 60-year-old woman outside Royal Inland Hospital before fleeing with her purse in a stolen car.
He was arrested following a police pursuit stretching from Kamloops to Merritt to Peachland.
Less than a year after his arrest, Semchuk was charged with assault causing bodily harm for attacking a corrections officer at Kamloops Regional Correctional Centre.
Semchuk was in segregation at the time and the officer was taking the handcuffed prisoner to another area in the jail. After head-butting the guard, Semchuk was tackled by four other officers.
He was handed an additional 18 months in jail for the attack and ordered to spend another 30 days in segregation at KRCC.
Semchuk’s jail sentence expired on Tuesday.
According to parole documents obtained by KTW, Semchuk will now be bound by conditions that require him to live at the halfway house and to not consume drugs and alcohol. He must also avoid people involved with criminal activity.
In addition, Semchuk will be required to participate in mental-health counselling, take medication as prescribed and avoid contact with any of his previous victims.
Semchuk had been on parole since March 2013, living at a Lower Mainland halfway house.
He had two run-ins with his supervisors last year — once, in April, when he failed to take his medication and again, in July, when he was late returning home.
The parole documents state Semchuk was “warned and counselled” after the slip-ups.
Authorities will meet to review Semchuk’s progress every three months for the next 10 years.
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